ASCE's Legislative Successes Aid Infrastructure Renewal

摘要

As a result of quick and effective action on the part of members who participate in ASCE'S Key Contact Program, the Society's Action Plan for the 110th Congress (www.asce.org/ reportcard/2005/actionplan07.cfm) achieved an important goal last month with the enactment of a measure transferring general Treasury funds to the Highway Trust Fund. Progress was also made in the dams, bridges, and water categories of the action plan when the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved three bills that, if enacted, will help improve the nation's infrastructure. As gas prices and construction costs soared this year, money flowing into the Highway Trust Fund from gas tax receipts fell dras-tically, prompting the Bush administration to call for an emergency transfer of general Treasury funds to cover expenditures promised to the states for surface transportation construction. This provided a fillip to ASCE-backed legislation to keep the trust fund solvent through fiscal year 2009, an important goal in the bridges, roads, and mass transit category of the Action Plan for the 110th Congress. Through the efforts of ASCE staff members and those participating in the Key Contact Program, more than 300,000 people working in the construction sector were able to keep their jobs as endangered projects received the necessary funding.